Ariana Grande performs on the 97th Academy Awards, March 2, 2025 (Disney/Frank Micelotta)
Ariana Grande‘s upcoming Eternal Sunshine tour begins June 6 in Oakland, California. But will we hear Wicked songs like “Popular” in the set, alongside hits like “We Can’t Be Friends”? Maybe.
Asked by Varietyif she plans on performing any Wicked songs on her tour, Ariana said, “I think it’s too soon to tell, but we’ll see. To be continued.”
However, in November Ariana revealed on the Shut Up, Evan podcast that she’d “already made” her set list, adding that she thinks it’s “really strong.”
Variety spoke to Ariana right after she learned Monday morning that she’d been nominated for a Golden Globe for the second year in a row, this time for Wicked: For Good. “It’s not expected, especially not twice for the same role,” Ari said of portraying Glinda in both Wicked films. “It’s an extraordinary honor. I was so grateful to do this work.”
“This role was something I had to earn, and work that I’m so proud of. I’m so proud to have done it, and to see it be celebrated in this way again, twice, is just an extraordinary thing.”
Both of the newly written songs in Wicked: For Good, “The Girl In the Bubble” and “No Place Like Home,” received Golden Globe nominations. Ariana said the first time she heard “The Girl In the Bubble,” which she sings in the film, “I felt relieved because I didn’t know what to expect when I heard that Glinda had a new song. I just felt that it added so much value to her arc.”
Mariah Carey, ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ 30th anniversary vinyl (Legacy/Columbia)
Is it even the holiday season if Mariah Carey isn’t #1 on the Billboard Hot 100?
Her ubiquitous song “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has returned to the top of the chart for a 19th week overall, which means it’s now tied with “Old Town Road” and “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” for most weeks ever at #1 on the Hot 100. Of course, those hits by Lil Nas X and Shaboozey managed the feat in a single year, whereas Mariah collected her 19 weeks starting in 2019, when it ruled for three weeks.
Since 2019, the song has returned to #1 every year, remaining on top for multiple weeks. Last year it managed four weeks on top.
Meanwhile, another holiday favorite, Wham!‘s “Last Christmas,” has climbed to #2 on the Hot 100 — it’s the highest peak ever for that song. The rest of the top 10 stocking is stuffed with multiple Christmas songs: BrendaLee‘s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” is #3; Bobby Helms‘ “Jingle Bell Rock” is #4; Ariana Grande‘s “Santa Tell Me” is #8; Nat King Cole‘s “The Christmas Song” is #9; and Andy Williams‘ “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” is at #10.
As for the songs that aren’t Christmas related, “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters is #5, Alex Warren‘s “Ordinary” is #7 and Taylor Swift‘s “The Fate of Ophelia,” which has been #1 for the past eight weeks, tumbles to #6.
At least for now, country duo Maddie & Tae is coming to an end, Maddie Font and Tae Kerr announced via People.
“We’re leaving this so open-ended because, you know, we might make another record one day,” Maddie says. “We might go do some tour dates one day.”
In fact, the duo still has concerts on the books, primarily in February and March 2026.
“Even though we’re not gonna go on this journey as Maddie & Tae together, we’re still walking and doing life together outside of it,” Maddie tells People. “And I think I’m really excited to just be best friends and nurture our friendship and not have to worry as much about the work and still get to raise our babies together. None of that changes.”
Tae plans to focus on her family, which includes her husband, songwriter/producer Josh Kerr, and their two kids: Leighton Kerr, who’ll be 4 in January, and son Chapel Kerr, who is 13 months.
Maddie’s in the process of launching her solo career, while also raising her 2-year-old son, Forrest Font, with husband Jonah Font.
“Thank you for all the love as we step into this new bittersweet chapter,” the duo wrote on Instagram. “We both feel overwhelmed with gratitude for what we’ve built with y’all the last 12 years. Thank you for making our wildest dreams come true and we hope you stay close by to watch us chase some new dreams. We love you so much and hope you still come shake ya booty with us on tour next year.”
Maddie & Tae launched their career with 2014’s chart-topping “Girl in a Country Song,” before visiting the top spot again in 2019 with “Die from a Broken Heart.”
Alex Murdaugh sits during an evidentiary hearing at the Richland County Courthouse in Columbia, South Carolina, on Jan.16, 2024. Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — A former South Carolina court clerk who served during the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh pleaded guilty on Monday to criminal charges stemming from the case — including for releasing sealed court exhibits to the press and then lying about it, and over the promotion of her book about the high-profile trial.
Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca “Becky” Hill pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, perjury and misconduct in office.
“I take full responsibility for my actions, and I know I have let down this Court, my community, and the people who placed their trust in me,” Hill said in court. “There is no excuse for my mistakes. I am ashamed of them, and I will carry that shame with me for the rest of my life.”
Judge Heath Taylor said he doesn’t believe Hill deserved incarceration and sentenced her to three years’ probation and 100 hours of community service.
Taylor said Hill has been “humiliated throughout this whole ordeal.”
“A lot of folks got swept up in the hoopla that was that trial,” Taylor said while handing down the sentence. “A lot of folks probably made a lot of money, but you didn’t.”
Hill was arrested in May, more than two years after Murdaugh was found guilty of brutally murdering his wife, Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, 52, and younger son, Paul Murdaugh, 22, who were found dead from multiple gunshot wounds near the dog kennels at the family’s hunting estate in 2021.
A judge imposed two sentences of life in prison, to be served consecutively for the murders.
According to the arrest warrants filed against Hill, investigators found she obstructed justice during the 2023 trial and then committed perjury during a hearing amid Murdaugh’s bid for a new trial last year.
Investigators found she obstructed justice in February 2023 during the trial by releasing or making available “‘scaled evidence’ photographs to a third party or parties, such act occurring in violation of a written court order issued to protect the ‘sealed evidence’ photographs, in violation of the law of the State of South Carolina,” the arrest warrant stated.
She then gave “false and misleading testimony” during a hearing on Jan. 29, 2024, in Richland County, as part of Murdaugh’s appeal, when she denied that she allowed anyone from the press to view the sealed exhibits in February 2023, according to the arrest warrant.
She was also charged with misconduct for using her office to promote a book she co-authored about the trial on social media, “such act being for her own financial gain and in violation of her duties, in violation of the laws of the State of South Carolina,” the arrest warrant stated. The book, “Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders,” was ultimately pulled from publication over accusations of plagiarism.
The probe also found she received financial bonuses totaling nearly $12,000 between September 2021 and March 2024 for her own financial gain, “in violation of her duties, and further in violation of the laws of the State of South Carolina,” according to the arrest warrant.
Hill said in court Monday that she has “already begun the hard work of rebuilding the relationships I damaged by accepting responsibility, seeking forgiveness from those I love, and repaying any improper bonus I received.”
“I am committed to making amends, to being honest, and to living in a way that reflects the values I failed to uphold,” she said.
Her attorney, William Lewis, said they respect the judge’s decision and found the probationary sentence to be “appropriate.”
The Colleton County Clerk’s Office said it does not have any comment on Hill’s case.
Hill resigned as the Colleton County clerk of court in March 2024, amid the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s investigation into allegations she may have abused her government position for financial gain.
In the wake of the double murder trial, the South Carolina State Ethics Commission filed 76 counts of ethics violations against Hill over allegations she improperly sought financial gain through her position.
Mariah Carey, 30th anniversary vinyl of ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ (Legacy/Columbia)
Is it even the holiday season if Mariah Carey isn’t #1 on the Billboard Hot 100?
Her ubiquitous song “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has returned to the top of the chart for a 19th week overall, which means it’s now tied with “Old Town Road” and “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” for most weeks ever at #1 on the Hot 100. Of course, those hits by Lil Nas X and Shaboozey managed the feat in a single year, whereas Mariah collected her 19 weeks starting in 2019, when it ruled for three weeks.
Since 2019, the song has returned to #1 every year, remaining on top for multiple weeks. Last year it managed four weeks on top.
According to Billboard, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is now the first song to top the Hot 100 in seven different runs on the chart: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Meanwhile, the song is also #1 on Billboard‘s Holiday 100 chart, which began in 2011. It’s the 68th week the song has been #1 on that chart, which has existed for 76 weeks in total.
Sleep Token performs on Day 1 of Download festival at Donnington Park on June 10, 2022 in Donnington, England. (Joseph Okpako/WireImage)
Sleep Token provides the soundtrack for the hype trailer for the upcoming 2025 Game Awards, which celebrate the best in video games.
The video, streaming now on YouTube, features clips from nominated games including Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Donkey Kong Bananza and Hollow Knight: Silksong, all set to Sleep Token’s 2023 Take Me Back to Eden song “Rain.”
Game Awards producer and host Geoff Keighley, who picked “Rain” to accompany the trailer, describes it as “an extraordinary song about pain, rebirth, and catharsis.” The track also shares a connection with the video game world.
“When Sleep Token performs Rain live, [frontman] Vessel often begins with chords from the Halo 3 theme — a beautiful, unexpected connection,” Keighley writes in an Instagram post. “When I reached out, the band was gracious enough to let us use the song for this project.”
The 2025 Game Awards take place Thursday and will stream live beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.
As previously reported, the ceremony will feature a performance by Evanescence. Amy Lee and company will be playing their song “Afterlife” from the Devil May Cry Netflix series, which was adapted from the video game franchise of the same name.
U2 on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live! ‘2017/Photo creedit: ABC/Randy Holmes
U2, Bruce Springsteenand The E Street Band, Bon Jovi and Elton John are among the artists landing on Pollstar’s new list of the 25 most popular touring artists of the millennium.
The list is based on worldwide ticket sales from 2001 to 2025. While Coldplay tops the list, U2 is just behind at #2, with 20.2 million tickets sold, which brought in a total gross of over $2.18 billion.
Springsteen and The E Street Band rank at #6, with 18.6 million tickets sold. Bon Jovi is #9, with 13.9 million, and Elton is #10, with 13.8 million.
Others landing on the list include The Rolling Stones at #12, Eagles at #17, Roger Waters at #21, Paul McCartney at #22 and Billy Joel at #25.
(WASHINGTON) — Members of Congress are tracking to pass new legislation that would compel Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide lawmakers the unedited military video of 11 people being killed in the Caribbean Sea on Sept. 2 after an initial strike on a suspected drug boat left two passengers alive in the water.
A provision tucked into the annual, must-pass Pentagon spending and policy bill says the Defense Department should hand over unedited copies of video to the House and Senate Armed Services committees. If the department does not comply, Hegseth’s travel budget would be slashed by 25% until the relevant videos are turned over, according to the legislation.
The provision could be amended before the bill is voted on in either chamber.
The House is expected to hold a floor vote on the bill this week. The Senate must take it up for a floor vote by the end of the month.
At issue is whether the Sept. 2 military strike on the alleged drug boat amounted to a war crime. Officials have confirmed there were four military strikes against the boat — the first strike killing nine of the 11 people aboard. Some 40 minutes later, a second strike was ordered to kill the remaining two survivors. Two more strikes were ordered to sink the boat, officials say.
Lawmakers who have seen portions of the video of the strikes in a classified briefing last week have described the state of the survivors before being killed by the U.S. military in starkly different terms. Democrats insisted the survivors were helpless and should have been rescued to comply with international laws that call for either sides in a conflict to help combatants who fall overboard or are shipwrecked. Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, however, said the survivors were trying to “flip” the boat “so they could stay in the fight.”
President Donald Trump last week said he is open to releasing the video.
“I don’t know what they have, but whatever they have, we’d certainly release, no problem,” he told reporters in the Oval Office last Wednesday.
Hegseth, however, has not committed to doing so. Speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum on Saturday, Hegseth said he was concerned that releasing the video could expose sources and methods tied to an ongoing operation. He said the military uses “bespoke capabilities, techniques, procedures” that would have to be protected.
“I’m way more interested in protecting that than anything else. So, we’re viewing the process, and we’ll see,” he said.
Hegseth also has suggested that the people killed in the strike were an imminent threat.
“I was told, ‘Hey, there had to be a reattack, because there were a couple folks who could still be in the fight [with] access to radios.’ There was a link-up point of another potential boat, drugs were still there … I said, ‘Roger, sounds good,'” Hegseth said.
Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee who was briefed on the video, said there were no radios and called Hegseth’s description “ridiculous.”
“They ought to release the video. If they release the video, then everything that the Republicans are saying will clearly be portrayed to be completely false and people will get a look at it and they will see,” Smith said.
ABC News’ Lauren Peller and Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.
Leonardo DiCaprio on the cover of TIME Entertainer of the Year. (Photograph by Geordie Wood for TIME, @geordiewood)
Leonardo DiCaprio has been named the 2025 Time Entertainer of the Year.
The actor, who has been a screen icon for decades, was chosen not just because of the beloved films he has starred in — Titanic, The Wolf of Wall Street and 2025’s One Battle After Another, to name a few— but because he has figured out how to continue having cultural moments that have sustained his entire career, Time wrote.
DiCaprio spoke about maintaining his private life while also being a public figure in a cover story tied to the honor.
“It’s been a balance I’ve been managing my whole adult life and still I’m not an expert,” he told the outlet. “I think my simple philosophy is only get out there and do something when you have something to say, or you have something to show for it. Otherwise, just disappear as much as you possibly can.”
He also shared his thoughts on the role artificial intelligence might play in the future of movies.
“It could be an enhancement tool for a young filmmaker to do something we’ve never seen before,” DiCaprio said, before adding, “I think anything that is going to be authentically thought of as art has to come from the human being.”
The actor also spoke on what he remembers about working with the late Diane Keaton in the film Marvin’s Room.
“She had the most incredible laugh,” DiCaprio said. “It would echo through the entire set, and she made you feel like the funniest person in the world. I mean, burst-out-loud laughing. I’ll never forget it. I kind of lived to make her laugh every day on set, because it was so infectious. She was incredible.”
(NEW YORK) — After a three-month battle over the legality of her appointment, Alina Habba has resigned from her position as the Acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey.
She announced her resignation as U.S. attorney in a social media post on Monday. She will remain serving as “Senior Adviser to the Attorney General for U.S. Attorneys.”
The resignation comes after a protracted legal fight about whether she could serve in the U.S. attorney role without Senate confirmation.
In August, a federal judge ruled that she was serving in the position “without lawful authority” and disqualified her as New Jersey’s top federal law enforcement officer. A federal appeals court unanimously upheld that decision last week, and the Department of Justice has not appealed that decision.
“As a result of the Third Circuit’s ruling, and to protect the stability and integrity of the office which I love, I have decided to step down in my role as the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey,” Habba said in her statement. “But do not mistake compliance for surrender. This decision will not weaken the Justice Department and it will not weaken me.”“Following the flawed Third Circuit decision disqualifying Alina Habba from performing her duties in the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of New Jersey, I am saddened to accept Alina’s resignation.
“Following the flawed Third Circuit decision disqualifying Alina Habba from performing her duties in the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of New Jersey, I am saddened to accept Alina’s resignation,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “The Department of Justice will seek further review of this decision, and we are confident it will be reversed. Alina intends to return to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey if this occurs.”
Despite the rulings, Habba remained in the position after Attorney General Pam Bondi named her a “Special Attorney to the Attorney General,” though several judges delayed proceedings to consider the legality of her position.
Before she was appointed as U.S. attorney, Habba served as a personal defense attorney for President Donald Trump in his New York civil fraud case and defamation trials. Last month, a federal appeals court upheld a $1 million penalty against Habba and Trump for bringing a frivolous lawsuit against former FBI Director James Comey and Hillary Clinton.
The Trump administration has faced growing headwinds over its efforts to install Trump loyalists as top prosecutors in U.S. attorneys’ offices across the country, suffering a string of court defeats as judges raise concerns they’re actively disregarding the law.
Last month, a judge threw out both criminal cases against Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James after determining that Lindsey Halligan, a former insurance lawyer and White House aide with no prosecutorial experience, was unlawfully appointed to lead the Eastern District of Virginia U.S. Attorney’s Office.
While Bondi previously said the administration would appeal that ruling, as of Monday, no appeal has been filed, and last week, a grand jury rejected an effort by the administration to revive its case against James.
A growing chorus of judges for the Eastern District of Virginia has raised concerns that the administration appears to be defying the order that disqualified Halligan by continuing to include her signature and title on legal filings.
On Monday morning, Attorney General Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a joint statement attacking judges for questioning Halligan’s legitimacy in the role, and accused them of “engaging in an unconscionable campaign of bias and hostility.”
“Lindsey and our attorneys are simply doing their jobs: advocating for the Department of Justice’s positions while following guidance from the Office of Legal Counsel,” the statement said. “They do not deserve to have their reputations questioned in court for ethically advocating on behalf of their client. This Department of Justice has no tolerance for undemocratic judicial activism.”
